07.28.06

baby food

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:23 am by Anne

So I just read an article about the latest issue of Baby Talk. If you haven’t seen it already, the cover shows a gorgeous blue eyed baby looking up at its Momma who is nursing it. You see a portion of breast but not the highly denounced nipple because, well, THE BABY IS NURSING.

ahem.

I didn’t have a problem with the cover but it shouldn’t have surprised me that a lot of people did. After seeing the uproar, I decided to pen my own letter to the editor:

My first thought on seeing your latest cover was “What a beautiful baby; look at those eyes!” The uproar it created is disappointing to me. Continuation of the species is amazing as is using so natural a process as nursing. Why be ashamed? The people who are embarrassed or appalled by the ‘dirtiness’ of the cover photo are also responsible for perpetuating the same myth that a womans body is dirty. How sad.

So that is basically what I wrote from memory, since I didn’t save the actual comment after sending it on their website.

I am not a member of the la leche league, no one would ever accuse me of being an ultra feminist (I like cooking way too much for that.), and my kids have never wallowed around in cloth diapers. That said, I think it is well within the rights of a mother to nurse in public. Now I don’t do that myself, per se. I may pull a quickie in the car with a blanket over the baby but I’m not comfortable with too many eyes on me, especially the unfriendly eyes (apparently)of my country’s citizenry.

Since when is breast feeding sexy or a form of basic eroticism (perverts exit now, this conversation is not for you)? I think when a woman delivers a baby, those double D’s morph from sexual device to feeding receptacle, so what gives? Why put another nail in the coffin representing how women view their bodies? Why does something life-affirming become filthy? I get so fed up with the negativity, people. Help me out.

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07.27.06

so hot the toads are cooking. out.

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:00 am by Anne

(taken with a canon eos digital rebel)

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zZZZzz

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:52 am by Anne

I wish I could say that the past few days have been crammed with productivity, that I was cleaning or baking like fiend, preparing lavish meals or intricate activities to increase my children’s intelligence but no. Actually, I’ve been sleepy and somewhat subdued. The nausea finally left, for the most part, thank GOD but it is so hot and dry outside that I just don’t have any desire to get out into it. My gym routine seems to have fallen into the black abyss of two weeks on and one week off, despite all of my plans within plans to get us there.

gak.

Then a few nights ago we had my sister and her husband over for supper and a rousing match of Texas Hold’em. We no longer play for money but instead for ‘date night’, so yeah, the stakes were higher than all get out. And with competitive games, I just had to show my ass after a particularly skillful play by my BIL. In the end he showed his pocket pair (kings), razzing me(I had ace-ten), and I lost it and acted like a complete asshole. Oh Jesus, there is nothing like a spoiled sport to ruin an otherwise good moment. If only I could chalk it up to the pregnancy hormones coursing through my veins. So after too many apologies they went home with the twins and I was left to continuously dredge up my moment of greatness over and over again.

This afternoon a very old friend of mine who just finished her obs/gyn residency/medical training hoo-hah and was hired near Houston (she is from new jersey), is coming to stay for a few days. She and I met while I lived in Austin, long before there was any Shan in the picture, so basically, I can’t pull any fast ones over on her. She knows too much.

In other news I am thrilled to announce that my sugar intake has gone through the roof. Those cinnamon gummies are the devil as are any kind of tangy lightly (or heavily) sugared concoction. I cannot resist their magnetic pull and as a result, the only kind of pants I want to wear now are those with elastic waistbands. Yes people, at eleven weeks, I already have forsaken normal pants. It boggles my mind but this third pregnancy…dammit. It was as if my body heard the big news and said, “Allright!I know exactly how to handle this. Look out world, here I come!” It just knows what to do and is doing it sooner.

zzZZZzzz.

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07.24.06

Texas Star Hibiscus

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:33 am by Anne

I was going to post a picture of a dried out husk of a toad but decided this was more appropriate. 

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storytime

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:12 am by Anne

I wanted to tell a great story about Lily. Well, I think it is a great story but maybe some of you would disagree.

We went swimming with the playgroup troupe recently. I sat in the shallows with Emma and the other Moms. Lily and the other 3 yr olds sat a few feet away in the sand, digging and tunneling and bucketing. At one point her friend Ally stood up, filled a bucket with water, and got behind Lily. She struggled for a few moments, trying to tip the water on top of Lily’s head, while Lily sat there digging a hole. Finally, she managed to slop some water over and onto Lily. She stood up in a flash, confusion turning to disbelief and said, “Stop it Ally!” But Ally didn’t stop. Instead she got to strugging with the bucket again, and tried to pour more over Lily but Lily took up for herself and with both arms outstretched while yelling, “No!” She pushed Ally down. Ally fell on her ass and started crying.

It was all I could do to not clap with joy. I’ll take assertion over agression any day.

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07.20.06

the first sono

Posted in Uncategorized at 3:32 pm by Anne

Today marks the official 10 week and one day prenatal age of the newest bun. We listened to the heart and got to see the little thing, maybe twice the size of a standard issue gummi bear. I asked when we come back to check gender and she said that was a few months away but then she proceeded to check it out. “Now the youngest I have ever predicted was at ten weeks and four days so if I’m right then this will be my new record. See the legs? and that thing right there?” Oh the thing right there. So it could be a boy but at this point it could also be a girl with a terribly large labia.

I need some baby name books stat. (beeeeyooootch!)

I’ve got a pot of chicken stock bubbling away on the stove, a few loaves of sourdough bread rising, and a fresh squeezed pitcher of limeade in the fridge. Life is good. If only the girls would take a nap!

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07.19.06

It all worked out.

Posted in Uncategorized at 7:59 am by Anne

Last night we hired a babysitter for the first time. My SIL said the going rate is between 8-10 clams an hour. Does that seem high to anyone else? Now granted, the sitter is almost 17 and she actually drove herself over here, so that has to vamp the price up a little. The new economy is startling when I remember making 4 bucks an hour in the late 80s.

Is it all pregnancy hormones when upon getting home from the movie I had grisly visions of the babysitter murdering both my girls in their little beds, because I did. I nearly ran into the house before the car stopped moving, and was met with two sleepy little girls who had refused to 1)put on jammies or 2)go to sleep. Shan wrote a check for 40 dollars (sheezus!) and we were left to tend the babes.

The excitement didn’t end there though. Before taking out my contacts last night I got a taste for all the shiz my girls got into when I opened up the case and found it filled to the top with liquid hand soap. I would have been furious if I hadn’t been laughing my ass off.

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07.17.06

It’s always the end of the world.

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:17 pm by Anne

My girl Cecily called me today and finally broke through my self induced seclusion. This is only one of the reasons why I luff her but besides talking about the daily ins and outs, we briefly landed on the world politic. “It’s like the 80’s all over again.” she said. “But instead of the big Russian enemy, we’ve got everyone at our throats…” I added.

So I keep reading about how north korea’s crazy-as-a-shit-house-rat leader has decided the UN is meaningless ( kinda what we’ve all thought anyway, right? I mean, right? Toothless rule making doesn’t do shit but make the rule makers pat themselves on the back.) and that his country is going to do even more pissing on the world to show us what a badass he is.

Then there is Israel and basically all of it’s neighbors constant fighting which has culminated in some serious ass-kicking by Israel recently, and oh the outrage of every other country, who really has never had to put up with the shit Israel puts up with.

Man. People fight. Humanity fights. We try to act all civilized and caring and concerned about the future but doesn’t it seem like we have always been on the verge of annihilation? Like from the beginning? Is it one of those big concepts like, we can never fully appreciate peace without sporadic violence? Senseless or not? Utopia is never going to happen here, folks. Besides, we wouldn’t be thankful for it anyway.

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07.15.06

greaaaaaat.

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:09 pm by Anne

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craving

Posted in Uncategorized at 8:53 pm by Anne

Today I remembered the taste of these little beauties. Then I ordered some because dammit, I’m worth it.

And so are ya’ll.

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